I don’t know how the other service do it but in the Marine Corps, when you first get commissioned, you typically remember your first salute. New officers carry a silver dollar, generally from the year they were commissioned. The first enlisted Marine who happens to salute them gets the silver dollar.
I was starting the warrant officer basic school at Quantico, Virginia. There was an appointment ceremony and my family was there. My grandfather was present…he had served in the Navy during WWII and was no stranger to Marines. He was dropping them on islands such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Grandpa had developed macular degeneration and could only see out of the very corner of his eyes. When we were dismissed, he asked his wife, my grandmother, “Ann, which way is he going?!? Get me to the exit you think he’s going to!” Not knowing why, but sensing his urgency, she quickly ushered him to the door from which I’d likely appear outdoors - the only place Marines would have a cover on and would salute.
When I walked out the door from the FBI Academy theatre, there he was. Right there in the middle of the sidewalk. Not a souls was going to get in his way. He threw on his “LST-840” cap and stood straight and saluted me as proud as he could be. I nearly cried because I knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
He earned that 2007 silver dollar.
He died in 2010 and I’m probably one of the few to have received that coin back from their first salute. She’s in a coin case. Super proud of it
Thanks for reading, folks. Just needed to tell that story.